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Originally Posted by Matt C.
Was recently at a "practical pistol" course/clinic made up of about twenty students and a wide degree of quality manufacturers represented.Only 2 pistols were malfunction free, both 3rd gen Smiths. Not scientific by any means but it sure influenced my definition of reliability.
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Although the agencies using 3rd gen S&W's have certainly dwindled, this isn't an uncommon observation, in my experienced, anyway.
I went through a week long undercover/plainclothes tactics & shooting class several years ago. I was carrying a SW99 40 at the request of the head instructor, and another guy from my unit was carrying an early production issued 5903 (which made the gun at least 10 years old and fairly well worn by that time). At one point early in the class we were the subject of some good-natured joking about our S&W guns. (Even though there was one guy carrying a S&W revolver.
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They tried to pull the instructor in on their joking at one point (a SWAT instructor/armorer for another agency who carried a Colt 1911). He shrugged when the joking reached the point where it was actually starting to become noticeable when he was running the range scenarios, and finally said that while he preferred a Colt .45, that in all the years he'd been teaching SWAT and special tactics classes that he'd seen all manner of guns experience malfunctions ... except that he'd never seen 3rd gen S&W's do so in any of his classes and he wasn't surprised that our S*&W's were running fine.
The joking fell flat at that point ... and didn't seem to come up again ... especially once the 2 guys carrying issued Glock G35's started experiencing feeding stoppages (new issue federal ammunition, BTW).
All kinds of things can happen in shooting classes with all manner of handguns, rifles and shotguns. The instructor update class I attended a while back included a fair number of guys carrying issues HK USP's ... and nobody was carrying any Glocks (which I thought was odd, especially since the class was full and had drawn students from all over). One of the guys using a HK USP 45 had repeated feeding stoppages and malfunctions until he had a chance to detail strip his weapon down during a lunch break and resolve whatever problem was causing the problem.
You go to enough classes and see enough service-type weapons ... meaning not personally-owned , modified, tweaked and "improved" game guns ... and you're going to see things happen from time to time. It's the nature of equipment, regardless of who makes it.
Now, back to the nature of the thread topic, both smallish pistols are good quality examples of offerings from a couple of the respected names in the firearms business. I'd think either would serve an owner/user very well. As a trained armorer for both products I feel they're both easy enough to work on for support & repair purposes.
Both companies offer good warranties, but S&W has the definite advantage with their lifetime warranty to the original owner which includes free pre-paid shipping.
I happen to like my G26. It's actually my favorite Glock within the entire product line. It's not as forgiving of grip or ammunition-related issues as my other small 9's (3913, CS9 & SW99 9c), but it's a fine small 9mm pistol.
Yes, the unique Glock grip angle does require some adjustment on the part of some folks who have been trained to shoot any number of other pistol designs. I found it relatively easy to adopt to in that regard, though. While I strongly prefer a 1911-style SA or a good TDA (DA/SA) pistol for daily 'working' roles, the Glock's 'constant double action' trigger is predictable and consistent enough to allow me to wring some very good accuracy out of it. I've used my G26 to shoot at rather small targets out to 90-95's with good success, and it does just fine with targets within the much closer ranges of what's considered reasonable handgun/defensive distances.
Does it shoot as consistently accurately as my 3913 or my SW99 9c? Well, not for me, and it's not like I haven't invested some time comparing them. I've lost track of the rounds which have been fired through my 3913, but I know I've exceeded 10,000 rounds through both my G26 and my SW99 9c. They're pretty much known quantities to me at this point.
It's not a bad thing to be faced with a situation where you're choosing between a couple of good choices.
